


Something worth living for

by edgeoflights



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hospitals, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27151825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgeoflights/pseuds/edgeoflights
Summary: 13 year old Daisy Johnson has a 7% chance of making it to her 14th birthday. She's accepted her short future. She isn't even scared anymore. She practically welcomes leaving the pain and tests and hospitals that make up her life.Then she meets a girl named Jemma Simmons, and all of a sudden, she has a reason to make the best of what's left of her life. Daisy takes uptight Jemma and teaches her how to live again, dragging her along crazy mishaps and rebellious adventures as her time on earth begins to come to a precarious close.[Semi-Fatal illness au]
Relationships: Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Comments: 68
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sanctuaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/gifts).



> you're so welcome kat <3 (this is revenge for you killing May)
> 
> And no, dear readers, it is not a gaurantee Daisy will die. That's just what it seems like right now.

It was cold.

Frigid, to be more accurate.

Two days after Christmas, Jemma Anne Simmons was stuck in a black long sleeved dress and pantyhose, silently holding a bouquet in which she was certain bugs were lurking.

Oh, how she wished Fitz were here. He would cheer her up, probably; make a joke about monkeys or logarithms or something. As it was, it would be a little odd for Fitz to be at a funeral for somebody he’d never met.

“We are gathered here today…” some man who’d never known her grandfather droned.

“Mama,” Jemma tugged on her mother’s hand and whispered. “I’m going to go to the restroom, okay?”

Her mother nodded, so Jemma slipped out of the large funeral hall and started searching for a bathroom.

She wandered down a long hallway with a plush red carpet, watching absently as her new shiny black sandals sank into the plush floor. 

Jemma looked up after she reached a large circular room filled with coffins. She turned around in a circle, and realized she was utterly lost. She began to fish out her phone to text her mother.

“Hey.”

Jemma looked up, startled. She met the eyes of a young girl around her age, with dark brown hair. The girl was sitting in an open coffin on display, her arms wrapped around her knees. “Oh. Hi.” She looked around the room, then back at the girl. “Are you sitting in a coffin?”

“Yup.”

“Okay.” Jemma shifted from foot to foot uncertainly.

“Wanna join me?”

Jemma stared at the girl. This was absurd. A random girl was inviting her to sit in a coffin. “I’m okay,” she said nervously.

“Are you scared?” She teased.

“Scared of sitting in a coffin? That normally holds dead people? Of course.” Jemma scoffed.

“Come here,” The girl said with a grin, shifting to make room. “I promise you’ll be fine.”

“Fine? That’s… doubtful,” Jemma replied nervously, but out of some weird impulse she swung her leg over the coffin’s edge and scooted into the small space, running her fingers over the soft interior. “I’m Jemma.”

“Daisy.” The girl replied with a cheeky smile. “What are you doing at a funeral home?” Daisy cocked her head curiously.

“My grandfather. He died recently.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“What about you? Why are you sitting in coffins?” Jemma giggled.

“I’m testing them out. I’ll be in one soon,” Daisy responded dryly.

Jemma stared at her. “Wait, what?”

Daisy shrugged and picked at a loose thread in the coffin lining. “Yeah, I don’t- I don’t have a lot of time left in life. My brain is messed up. Unlucky; I guess. Pretty sure I’ll be in one of these soon, unless an angel blesses me or some canoodle like that. You know- I’m debating either a cedar or an oak base.” She hummed.

“Oh no-“

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” Daisy interrupted quickly, squeezing her eyes shut. “Everybody says that; it gets old real fast.”

Jemma opened and closed her mouth and studied her acquaintance. “This… is very morbid,” she said quietly, referring to the ’sitting in coffins and seeing what she’d fit in’.

“Yeah, well, you know. We all deal with stuff differently.”

“Right.”

They sat in an awkward silence; Jemma fighting the urge to give Daisy a hug, until somebody came around the corner into the room and sighed. “Oh, baby…”

Daisy looked up and rolled her eyes as Jemma watched a short Asian woman make her way into the room, looking down at the two of them.

“Daisy, what are you doing in there?” The woman sounded tired, but not surprised.

Daisy shrugged and scrambled her way out of the coffin. “I’m not sorry,” she announced with a frown.

The woman, who appeared to be Daisy’s mother, just sighed knowingly and pulled Daisy into a hug, bending down a little to kiss her forehead, making Jemma feel a pang for her grandfather briefly.

“This is my mom,” Daisy mumbled.

Jemma scrambled to get up, realizing she was still sitting in the coffin. “Hi, miss…”

“May. You can call me May. What’s your name?”

“Jemma Anne Simmons,” Jemma replied.

“Simmons… Oh, I think I just met your mother,” May realized. “Condolences on your grandfather, Simmons.”

Jemma liked the way Miss May called her by her last name. It made her feel more like an adult. “Thank you. Uh, condolences…” she looked at Daisy in question, who shrugged.

“Yeah, ‘condolences you’re dying.’ I know what you wanted to say.” 

“ _ Daisy _ ,” Miss May chastised before smiling at Jemma, a weird, melancholy sort of smile that had sadness hovering around it, making the whole thing depressing.

“Sorry. I know you were just trying to be nice,” Daisy admitted.

“It’s fine.”

Daisy nodded awkwardly.

Miss May broke the tension. “Daisy is starting at Barnes Middle School in January. Do you go there?”

Jemma smiled. “Yes, I do! Seventh grade.”

“Well hey, look. You made a friend from school already,” May said to Daisy quietly. “Maybe you two can-“

Daisy rolled her eyes and grumbled. “ _ Mom _ , we just met. Don’t scare Jemma away.”

“Oh no, that’s fine,” Jemma said quickly. “I’d love to be friends with you,” she told Daisy, who smiled tentatively.

“Oh. Cool.” 

“I’ll leave you two alone, then. I’ll go let your mother know you’re here, Jemma.” May said, kissing Daisy’s head before leaving.

Daisy made a show of wiping her mother’s kiss away. “Sorry, she’s… a little worried all of the time.”

“Because you’re…” Jemma asked tentatively.

Daisy nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been diagnosed since I was a baby; as I’m getting closer to my croaking day she’s getting way more overbearing.”

_ Croaking day. Eloquently put.  _

“She didn’t seem that overbearing-“

“She wanted to keep me homeschooled this semester, but after a forever amount of begging and promising to tell her whenever I feel even a little sick, she let me come to school. So- overbearing.”

“If you say so.”

“I do, in fact, say so,” Daisy replied.

They looked at each other, then broke out into grins. “You really wanna be friends?” Daisy asked curiously.

“Of course,” Jemma said, a little bit scared of the gleam in Daisy’s eye.

“Awesome. Hey, do you have Instagram? I have it, but I never use it. We can talk on there.”

“Yes, that works.”

Daisy fished her phone out from her pocket and went to the app. “What’s your username?”

“Future_biochemist12.” Jemma giggled as Daisy gave her an odd look. “What?”

“You want to be a biochemist?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jemma said proudly, a little nervous that Daisy would make fun of her.

“Oh. That sounds fun. But, Jemma, why did you put it in your username?” Daisy giggled. “You’re the first person I’ve met that puts their future career as their user.”

“What’s  _ your _ username?” Jemma shot back playfully.

“Daisy_MJ.”

“Oh, like that’s so much better than mine,” Jemma scoffed.

“At least it has my  _ name _ ,” Daisy retorted.

They dissolved into giggles. 

“Why are you switching schools during winter break?” Jemma asked curiously.

Daisy sighed. “I moved. I’m from LA. We moved here for a specific treatment they only do in hospitals in this city.”

“Oh.” Jemma couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be uprooted from your entire life to chase a chance to live to see your next birthday. “Well, you’ll love it here.”

“Jemma!” Jemma’s mother called from the hallway, which had started to fill up with people leaving the funeral. “Let’s go.”

Jemma frowned. “Coming!” she called, then turned to Daisy. “I hope we meet again when school starts!”

Daisy nodded, and grinned. “Me too.”

Jemma shot her one last smile before leaving the room to go to her mother. The last thing she remembered about Daisy was her new friend standing there, next to the coffins, looking awfully skinny and pale and lonely.

“Daisy, we’ll be good friends,” she whispered to herself. “I promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi

“Hey, Jem,” Fitz’s face filled the screen and he grinned.

“Hey, Fitz!” Jemma put her phone on her desk so she could grab her earbuds. She plugged them into her phone and unwrapped them carefully before putting them in her ears. “How have you been?” she asked.

“Good. My mother tried baking croissants this morning, and set off the smoke alarm. How was your Christmas?” Fitz asked, setting the phone in front of him before putting something in his hands and fiddling with it.

“Good! I got a botanical kit from Uncle Ron, and I also got a new set of gel pens for taking notes. It was very fun, but right after that we found out about Grandpa.” Jemma frowned.

“Right. How was the funeral?” Fitz asked sympathetically.

“Oh! Yes, of course. I almost forgot to tell you! I met a girl at the funeral!”

“A girl? In a funeral home? Was she a ghost?” Fitz joked.

“No, Fitz,” Jemma rolled her eyes with a smile. “Her name is Daisy.”

“Was she at your gra-gran-grandfather’s funeral too?” He inquired.

“No, I don’t think so. She was just there with her mother. She’s coming to our school in the spring.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Wha-what’s she like?”

“Funny,” Jemma replied with a smile. “Really sweet. Spunky.”

“Oh.” 

Jemma could tell Fitz was pouting, and giggled at him. “What, Fitz?”

“Yo-you two are f-friends?”

“Yes. But you and I are too,” she added. “I can have other friends, Fitz,” she reminded him. 

He flushed and nodded. “Right, s-sorry. I’m just be-being irrationally worried ab-ab-abou-about you, um, aban-abandoning me for Daisy.”

Jemma smiled warmly at him. Fitz tended to doubt every strong connection he has in his life because of his absent father. Jemma understood, and knew to simply reassure him. “I would never. We don’t separate, remember? Side by side forever.”

“Side by side,” Fitz confirmed with a smile. “Well-“

Jemma’s phone started ringing with another call, pausing what Fitz wanted to say. Jemma looked at the caller ID, thinking it was her mother, but felt a burst of joy when she saw Daisy’s username on the screen.

“I’ll put her on hold. What were you going to say?” Jemma asked Fitz, who smiled.

“R-right. Well, I was th-thin-thinkin’ about Ms. Weaver’s Engineering club. Sev-seventh graders in the c-club get to co-com-compete on the science team for the Robotics T-Tournament in April, and we were plannin’ on signing up together, remember?” he explained. “What if w-w-we i-invited Daisy to join us to sign up? She’s new, maybe she’d like to be in a club and meet ne-new people,” he suggested. 

“I’m not sure Daisy would be interested in that,” Jemma said doubtfully, then shrugged. “I don’t know, though. I can ask!”

Fitz nodded. “Ye-yeah, sounds good.”

They continued talking for a few more minutes before Fitz’s mom called for him to eat and he signed off. 

Jemma took Daisy’s call. “Hi, sorry!” She greeted. “I was on the phone with my friend, Fitz.”

“Oh, it’s cool.” Onscreen, Daisy had her phone set up on her bed and was drawing in a notebook. “What’s up?”

“I’m nervous for school to start again,” Jemma admitted.

Daisy cocked her head. “Really? Why?”

Jemma sighed. “Well, there’s these three girls, Raina, Myranda, and Rebecca-“

“Ooh,  _ mean girl names, _ okay, go on,” Daisy said excitedly.

Jemma bit her lip to suppress a smile. “They usually ignore Fitz and me, but recently, around November, they’ve started picking on us. We’re kind of… nerdy, I guess.” Jemma admitted nervously. She didn’t want to lose her friendship with Daisy already by revealing how unpopular she was at school. “I am not excited to deal with them again.”

“Oh, ew. That sucks, I’m sorry.” Daisy flipped to a new page in her sketchbook and drew a large sad face before turning it around to show to Jemma.

Jemma smiled in response. “Oh, well.” She shrugged.

“Did you tell anybody? I know a lot of teachers won’t do much, but at least in my old school, I had some really good teachers.”

“No, we didn’t.” Jemma shook her head. “It’s not bad enough that we need to. And if we did say something, they’d figure out how to make our life hell.”

“Oh.” Daisy disappeared offscreen for a moment before returning with a bag of popped popcorn. She started munching on it. “What are the teachers and admin like?”

“Oh, well, most of them are very nice. Mr. Mack used to be in the military; he likes to tell us stories about cadet training and the camps and things. He’s the 90’s Movies Club teacher, too.”

“That’s cool.”

“Then there’s Ms. Weaver. She teaches robotics and biology, so we should have her together this semester. Mr. Garrett teaches gym; he’s very mean and tough. Mr. Triplett helps him out, but he’s nice. Mr. Fury is the principal; he seems really mean but he really likes Fitz and me.”

“Okay! Who’s the literature teacher? And the Spanish teacher? I signed up for Spanish.”

“Mrs. Morse and Mrs. Rodriguez. Mrs. Rodriguez is dating Mr. Mack in secret, but everybody knows they’re together.” Jemma shared.

“Aw,” Daisy giggled. “I hope we have the same classes.”

“Me too,” Jemma said hopefully. “I’m not taking Spanish because of my forensics elective, but you might have the class with Fitz.”

“Sounds good.”

“Anyway, I wanted to ask you: Fitz and I are signing up for a robotics competition, where you design robots and then they do different actions and then they’re rated by how useful and creative they are. Would you-“

“Like to join you? Hell yes!” Daisy answered. “Pardon my French,” she added sheepishly.

Jemma smiled. “Sounds good!”

“I love stuff like that,” she explained. “I’m not good at science-y things or engineering, but I love drawing and designing stuff, if that’s fine,” Daisy asked.

Jemma nodded. “Last year there were a lot of artists on the team. They helped with creativity, and our school got second.”

Daisy grinned. “With you on the team, this year we’ll get first.”

Jemma blushes. “Thank you, but I think you mean Fitz. He’s the engineering whiz; I’m more interested in biochemistry.”

“Right. Future biochemist,” Daisy remembered from their conversation about Instagram usernames in the funeral home.

“Yeah.” Jemma smiled at Daisy’s memory.

“Anyway, I was only able to FaceTime you for a few minutes. I gotta go now. I have to help my mom garden.” Daisy made a face. “Which means I pull weeds and she plants pretty flowers.”

“Oh, okay.” Jemma responded with a giggle. “Goodbye!”

“Bye, Jemma,” Daisy said with a wave, before signing off.

Jemma was left alone in her quiet room, excited about the robotics club and her new friendship with Daisy.

Maybe this semester wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it would be.


	3. Chapter 3

Jemma didn’t have high hopes for the start of school.

She already was used to the relentless sneers and rumours that Myranda and Raina aimed at her and Fitz. That really wasn’t the issue.

She was scared of Daisy finding out how much of a nerd she was and how unpopular she was, and abandoning her.

It probably wouldn’t happen; Jemma knew Daisy seemed too sweet and kind for it. They’d been texting and calling practically every day since they met, and the two were already growing close.

Yet Jemma had known somebody that she’d thought sweet and kind, too, but they’d turned out to be horrible… 

Jemma shook her head to clear the angry thoughts coming her way and decided to focus on the leaves crunching under her feet.

She and Fitz were walking to school along the same route they’d done last year- Jemma knew better than to offer a change in routes to Fitz.

It was cold and crisp outside, and Jemma’s nose was freezing, but she just bundled her coat closer to her skin and stomped on a large red leaf.

“What- What do you think M-m-mrs. Hand is going to b-be like?” Fitz asked.

Jemma shrugged, but she smiled. “I don’t know. But I hear she’s very strict and organized.”

Fitz scoffed, stumbling over his untied shoelaces. “Of c-course you’d like that.”

“I like when things are organized!” Jemma protested.

“I kn-know, I know.” Fitz grinned at her, and Jemma felt a little flutter in the pit of her stomach at his bright smile. 

She blushed and ducked her head back down, watching colorful leaves disappear under her new brown boots.

“I can’t wait for you to meet Daisy,” Jemma said excitedly.

Fitz nodded, but his smile shrank a little.

Jemma knew he had trust issues after what happened just the year before. She didn’t blame him for being unsure about Daisy. Even she still wasn’t certain, because she’d only known Daisy for three weeks. 

But Daisy… Daisy was- Daisy seemed kind. And spunky. 

And _dying._

Jemma still hadn’t told Fitz about Daisy’s time limit on life.

Daisy hadn’t openly mentioned anything about her fatal illness since they'd met. Jemma was almost 100% sure she was telling the truth because of Daisy's mother, Miss May. When they met, May seemed to confirm it. But Jemma didn't say anything to anybody. It wasn't really her information to share. It was Daisy's. 

And maybe Daisy and Fitz would meet, and then maybe Daisy would tell Fitz. And they could all be friends.

That's what Jemma hoped for, at least.


	4. Chapter 4

“Jemma!”

Fitz and Jemma startled at hearing her name called out from somewhere in the sea of sixth and seventh graders standing in front of the school.

Jemma smiled. “I think that was Daisy,” she explained. She stood on the tips of her toes to see over the heads of other students milling around and spotted Daisy a couple of meters away, waving excitedly and grinning.

Jemma smiled back and waved her hand up high.

Daisy moved through the crowd, skillfully pushing away backpacks and ducking around flying objects to reach the pair.

“Hi! I’m Daisy,” she said excitedly to Fitz, holding onto straps of a baby blue backpack.

Fitz blinked at her. “O-oh. Um, uh, Fitz. I-I’m Fitz. Leopold F-fitz.” He unconsciously put his hand on his neck, rubbing it nervously.

Jemma knew him more than she knew herself, and a small pang of jealousy towards Daisy arose as she noticed his anxious behavior. She pushed it down, knowing that she was just being ridiculous.

“How are you guys?”

“Good,” Jemma answered honestly. Fitz just mumbled something, blushed, and looked down at the floor.

“I just got my schedule,” Daisy said.

“Ooh, what classes do we have together?” Jemma asked, interested. 

Daisy handed her a pink paper with a list of classes and room numbers.

“Who do you have for biology? I have Ms. Weaver,” Jemma said, scanning the paper. Fitz also had the same teacher.

“Oh, darn. I have Mrs. Morse.” Daisy made a face.

Jemma sighed disappointedly. “Oh, I heard she’s very harsh.” Seeing the frown on Daisy’s face, she revised her words. “In a good way. She’s not mean for no reason. If you don’t try hard she’ll be strict, though.”

“Oh. Who do you have for history?” Daisy asked, ducking as a notebook went flying by her head. Somewhere behind her a group of boys burst into laughter.

“Gonzalez. I see you have . We’re in different classes for that as well. But we seem to have Algebra 1, English, Spanish and Gym together. And Homeroom.”

“Oh, awesome. What about you, Fitz?”

“U-uh, w-hat?” Fitz played with the hem of his sweater and shrugged.

“He has the same classes as me except for Gym,” Jemma answered for him.

“Nice, okay. I-”

Before Daisy could continue, the first bell of the year rang and the front doors opened, and students began to rush into the building.

“I have Morse right now. I’ll see you in Algebra!” Daisy waved goodbye as she disappeared into the crowd.

As Jemma followed the sea of students into the hallways, smiling at seeing the school she'd genuinely missed all summer, she thought about having Daisy as a friend in the coming year. And then she smiled.

She couldn't wait.


	5. Chapter 5

**September**

* * *

After a week in school, Daisy and Jemma became even closer despite the fact that their lunch times didn’t align. The second Monday morning in the school year, Jemma found herself reading about the fascinating properties of a new element scientists discovered called Gravitonium.

“Psst,” Daisy poked Jemma with the chewed up eraser of her pencil. “Jemma.”

“Yes?” Jemma looked up from her book reluctantly. 

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Can you stop reading for like, five minutes?”

Jemma glared at her, then made a show of putting her bookmark in her book and placing it on her desk. “Yes?” she repeated.

“Okay.” Daisy scooted out of her chair and under the desk. “C’mere,” she said, out of sight, her voice muffled.

“What are you doing?” Jemma hissed, looking around. None of the groups scattered around the room were paying any attention to them.

“Come here,” Daisy insisted. 

Jemma rolled her eyes and ducked under the desk, looking at Daisy pointedly once she had settled, turning her head so she’d fit.

“Look up,” Daisy whispered, looking at the underside of the desk.

“Wow, look, it’s _gum_ ,” Jemma said, unsure of what Daisy was trying to say.

“Yeah, but there are _initials too_ ,” Daisy explained. “Scratched into the wood. There are so many; I wonder how old the people who wrote them are.”

“The school’s been open for only ten years,” Jemma answered, tracing a ‘T+M’ scratched into the dark wood with her finger.

“Wow. The people who traced these are old now.”

“Only twenty or so at most,” Jemma replied.

“Some of them are in college,” Daisy mused.

“Med school.”

“Have boyfriends.”

“Or girlfriends," Daisy added with a smirk.

“Cars.”

“Kids?” Jemma suggested.

“Nah.”

They grinned at each other, then started giggling.

Daisy grew quiet, looking back up at the rough wood thoughtfully. “If I traced my initials in here, I wonder if anybody seeing it in the future would know what happened to me.”

Jemma didn’t respond, uncomfortable with the newfound change in topic.

“I won’t reach twenty. I won’t get to experience all of that stuff. But if I write my name here, it’ll last for a long time. Longer than me, anyway,” Daisy explained.

Jemma nodded. “Yeah, I guess,” she said doubtfully.

Daisy grinned. “You should write ‘Jemma + Fitz’.”

“ _Daisy_!”

“I’m just saying,” Daisy giggled, the somber moment now broken. "Y'all seem like you'd be cute together." She looked up and started scratching _DMJ_ into the wood, grinning when Jemma began to do the same.

“I feel like such a bad girl, destroying school property,” Jemma said with a shiver.

“Um, _destroying-_ yeah okay, sure.” Daisy decided to just agree. “Bad girl adventures, right?”

“More like bad girl shenanigans,” Jemma corrected.

“ _Shenanigans_ ? What are you, Mary Poppins?” Daisy snorted, receiving a withering glare from Jemma. “Hey, watch this.” Daisy used her thumb nail to scratch out ‘ _R and M are C’s robot copies._ ’

“Daisy,” Jemma hissed, understanding the diss at Myranda and Rebecca.

“What? It’s not like they’ll ever see it. Watch one of them crawl under a desk, I dare you.”

Jemma laughed. 

The bell rang, interrupting their scratching. They both slid out from under their desks and sat in their chairs just as Mr. Hunter entered the room with a cup of coffee.

He started talking, and Jemma looked over at Daisy, who was grinning. Daisy mouthed ‘robots’ at Jemma, making a face, and it took all of Jemma’s self control not to burst into laughter.

They both looked back to the front after a reminder from the teacher to focus, but for the rest of the class, Jemma was distracted. She thought about the initials scrawled right below the wood she was leaning on, and how they might last longer than her, but they’d definitely last longer than Daisy.

What a morbid thought.

And that’s when it felt _real_ to Jemma. Daisy was going to be leaving soon, and the only thing she’d leave behind were memories of her and initials scratched into a desk. That’d be it.

Daisy deserved more than that. She deserved to grow up, and find a person to love, and have the kids she wanted, and go to bars with her friends, and take cross country road trips where the only thing you could feel was freedom and the taste of candy on your tongue.

But she’d never know.

Jemma would know, and Daisy wouldn’t. Daisy could only watch or read about it and know that she’d never experience it.

How was that fair?

**Author's Note:**

> See you next chapter!


End file.
